Tag: banking

An idea for banks

Last month I posted a status update about how Bank of America froze my credit card after an $18 purchase for Alfred’s Powerpack. The purchase was a UK-based transaction which apparently was too much for a Visa card to handle.

It gave me an idea though. What if a bank gave its customers the ability to set a threshold for fraudulent activity? The bank would let me say, “Do not freeze my card for any purchases below this dollar amount.” Seems easy enough.

If my card or account information was stolen I really wouldn’t be worried about an $18 purchase. What I’m concerned about is someone stealing my information and going on a shopping spree at an Apple store. If they want to drop $18 to support an indie software company that’s fine by me.

While ideally I’d like to not be liable for an $18 fraudulent purchase I don’t need my account frozen because of it. Send me a non-urgent email or a text message but don’t cut off my access.

A First Look at BankSimple. This was posted back in September but I just got a chance to really watch it. Beyond the sexy interface the message is tremendous. “We shouldn’t be doing math in front of the computer. The computer ought to be doing math for us.” That’s the kind of bank I’d like to have.

Status

Recipe for banking fail: Require users to enter an authorization code when logging in from an unfamiliar computer. Deliver the authorization code via email. Reject the authorization code sent by your bank’s system because it does not contain any letters.

I’m now in a banking ghetto and can’t log in to my Chase account anymore because their web form doesn’t trust their email script. Nice. When does BankSimple launch again?